Blunt Talk
Starz | Release Date: August 22, 2015
CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
56
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
11
Negative:
4
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
IndieWireBen TraversAug 21, 2015
Season 1 Review: It's quite a combination of ideas, and what holds them together is the author's distinct, compelling voice, alongside Stewart's utter magnetism. Read full review
83
Uncle BarkyEd BarkAug 21, 2015
Season 1 Review: Blunt Talk’s overall absurdity at times over-reaches and grabs viewers too hard by the throat. Still, its excesses are offset by enough inspired lunacy to carry the day. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubJohn TetiAug 21, 2015
Season 1 Review: The show makes admirable attempts to build out the world beyond Blunt, and the effort yields some dividends.... But most of the time, Stewart is on screen, so most of the time, it’s hard to stop watching. Read full review
80
ColliderAllison KeeneSep 28, 2016
Season 2 Review: Where Blunt Talk really succeeds is in its smallest moments and interactions. In the worlds that Ames creates, the rhythms of the character’s speech are incredibly unique and warm. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert LloydSep 11, 2015
Season 1 Review: There is a tenderness that runs through the series and makes the trip worth taking, however improbable the road. Read full review
80
The WrapNed EhrbarAug 24, 2015
Season 1 Review: Stewart and Scarborough make Blunt Talk worth watching, as they’re an offbeat co-dependent pair who clearly have great affection and respect for each other, and watching Stewart embrace Walter’s often loony behavior is a treat. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsDavid HinckleyAug 21, 2015
Season 1 Review: It helps a lot that [Blunt] is played by Patrick Stewart, who brings theatrical majesty to a man who quite sincerely believes words can change the world for the better. Read full review
80
Philadelphia InquirerDavid HiltbrandAug 20, 2015
Season 1 Review: Strange, off-the-wall, and even slightly mad. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyJeff JensenAug 13, 2015
Season 1 Review: Created by Jonathan Ames (Bored to Death), Blunt Talk’s media satire is by turns sly and stale. Blunt isn’t a convincing anchorman avatar, though he works as a metaphor for pampered celebrity. The show begins to find itself as an inspired comedy about redemption in a post-self-help, post-hot-mess culture in the third episode. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKeith UhlichAug 12, 2015
Season 1 Review: Pilot episode aside, Ames doesn’t skimp on the inventively outlandish absurdity. But it’s the simmering, slowly bared pathos--the sense that these clownish people are constantly trying and failing to suppress something all-too-human about themselves--that distinguishes it from the cringe-comedy crop. Read full review
65
Under The RadarCody Ray ShaferAug 21, 2015
Season 1 Review: Where Stewart is the show's greatest strength, there is very little else to grasp onto. The situations are good for a few awkward giggles, but ultimately Blunt Talk misses the mark on the bigger picture. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJohn AndersonAug 20, 2015
Season 1 Review: Blunt Talk is as wildly uneven as it is occasionally brilliant. Read full review
50
Washington PostHank StueverAug 21, 2015
Season 1 Review: Blunt Talk is a muddled but sometimes endearingly dirty comedy. Read full review
50
Boston HeraldMark A. PerigardAug 21, 2015
Season 1 Review: [Blunt Talk] is dull, depressing, charm-free, puerile and pointless. You’ll have more fun slapping yourself in the head with a spoon for a half-hour. Read full review
50
New York Magazine (Vulture)Margaret LyonsAug 20, 2015
Season 1 Review: Stewart's unbelievable warmth helps, but it's not quite enough to anchor the show. His character is too scattershot. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeMatthew GilbertAug 20, 2015
Season 1 Review: As the writing on Blunt Talk bounces between inspired insanity and stupidity, Stewart remains enjoyable. With his authoritative chewing of scenery, he rises far above the show’s unevenness and overcrowded flock of supporting characters. Read full review
50
St. Louis Post-DispatchGail PenningtonAug 20, 2015
Season 1 Review: [Patrick Stewart is] a fantastic sport about the silly things asked of him, but that just makes it more of a shame that the show's writing doesn't do better by him. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleDavid WiegandAug 17, 2015
Season 1 Review: Scarborough and some of the guest stars (Gelman, Sharon Lawrence, Moby) make Blunt Talk better than its scripts. The problem is that as good as Stewart is, Walter Blunt wears out his welcome, and you can effectively counterbalance that with guest stars only so often. Read full review
40
The New York TimesMike HaleAug 21, 2015
Season 1 Review: It is an amusing showcase for Mr. Stewart and for Adrian Scarborough of “Gavin & Stacey” as Blunt’s valet and chief enabler.... But there’s not much else going on--the satire is soft and scattershot, and the elements of farce and physical comedy are routine. Read full review
40
Yahoo TVKen TuckerAug 21, 2015
Season 1 Review: Stewart gives a terrific performance, gliding through a song-and-dance fantasy in the second episode, and, throughout, delivering his lines with astutely timed gusto. It’s too bad the lines aren’t funny. Read full review
40
Las Vegas WeeklyJosh BellAug 20, 2015
Season 1 Review: Walter’s colleagues are just as depraved as he is, but their issues feel forced, more about crass, envelope-pushing jokes than character development. Stewart dives into his role with admirable gusto, but the show around him isn’t worthy of his talents. Read full review
40
VarietyBrian LowryAug 19, 2015
Season 1 Review: The premiere starts with a rambunctious energy that temporarily promotes a sense of good will.... But from there, the series--which Ames produced with the seemingly ubiquitous Seth MacFarlane--pretty rapidly disintegrates, relying too heavily on Stewart’s madcap antics and an assortment of not particularly distinctive supporting players. Read full review
30
Pittsburgh Post-GazetteRob OwenAug 20, 2015
Season 1 Review: To be blunt, Starz’s Blunt Talk is spectacularly unfunny. Read full review
25
NewsdayDiane WertsAug 18, 2015
Season 1 Review: Blunt Talk aspires to "Network's" kinetically brilliant madness. It arrives a limp and muddled mess. Read full review
20
Cleveland Plain DealerMark DawidziakAug 17, 2015
Season 1 Review: What's missing from Blunt Talk is any degree of wit, any genuine character development, any sense of comic structure that delights, rather than depresses, the viewer. What should be winning leaves you wincing. Read full review
20
TV Guide MagazineMatt RoushAug 6, 2015
Season 1 Review: Perversely unpleasant workplace comedy. [10-23 Aug 2015, p.12]
Current TV Shows
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 92 The Pitt: Season 2
2 90 The Celebrity Traitors UK: Season 1
3 87 Hacks: Season 5
4 87 Industry: Season 4
5 87 Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal:...
6 85 The Beatles Anthology
7 85 The Traitors [UK]: Season 4
8 85 Bait: Season 1
9 84 Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!
10 83 Lord of the Flies
11 83 Riot Women: Season 1
12 83 For All Mankind: Season 5
13 81 The Muppet Show (2026)
14 80 Outlander (2014): Season 8
15 80 The Other Bennet Sister: Season 1
16 80 The Mighty Nein: Season 1
17 80 The Comeback: Season 3
18 80 The American Revolution
19 80 One Piece (2023): Season 2
20 80 Dark Winds: Season 4
SEE ALL